One of the toughest transitions to make in anyone’s career is moving from employee to manager. Not only are you expected to continue to perform well at your job, but you also have to forge new relationships, deal with conflict resolution, give appraisals, manage poor performance, time performance… the list goes on.
A recent study by CareerBuilder.com shows that a whopping 58 per cent of managers said they didn’t receive any management training.
The tendency to promote people with good technical skills, but poor people skills is alarmingly common in many organisations.
So, whether you are a new or experienced manager, ongoing professional and personal development is key to nurturing and growing successful teams, and ensuring those teams stay motivated throughout their employee lifecycle.
Essentially, the employee lifecycle can be broken down into four distinct phases.
- Recruitment
- Induction or on boarding
- Development
- Separation
We explain why management development is essential throughout all 4 key stages of the employee lifecycle:
Recruitment
Attracting employees who are aligned with your organisation’s vision, mission and culture involves having a clear company vision and a strong employer brand.
Managers need to be trained on how to communicate the company vision during the hiring process and ask the right questions to ensure that the applicant they offer the role to, shares the same values so the ‘fit’ is right from the outset.
Induction/onboarding
How well you onboard new colleagues can have a dramatic impact on their performance, and how long they will stay with the company. All managers should be coached on how to structure the induction process and mentor new hires so that they feel integrated into the organisation. So reinforcing the company vision during the onboarding process and ensuring it is acted upon throughout their staff’s employment, is a must.
A good induction plan should include:
- An introduction into the company’s values, mission and culture
- Time spent with other team members and managers across the organisation
- Training on all company systems and software
- A timetable/structure of their first week and first month in the job
- KPIs and what is expected of them in their role
Development
It is your role as a manager to encourage your employees to continually learn, develop, and grow throughout their tenure with your organisation. Mentoring programmes, succession planning, e-learning programmes, networking and public speaking all play a vital part in making sure your staff feel challenged and motivated to perform better, as well as learn new skills.
Separation
Managers should put just as much time and effort into the offboarding process as they do the induction process. Why? Because if you know and understand the reasons why an employee is leaving your organisation, you can help prevent other good employees from leaving in the future.
Departing employees can offer honest feedback about the organisation from their own personal experience which you can use to improve the workplace culture and so improve your employee retention going forward.
Ask for suggestions on how you can create a better, more inspiring working environment, whilst at the same time honouring the support they have contributed to your company’s success.
At Kirsty Craig Associates, we provide specialist management development programmes to ensure that your managers (and therefore your staff) perform at their best and become your business’s greatest assets. View our management training courses here >>
